


tally it up

by tobiocapearl



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, I'm Bad At Summaries, Light Angst, M/M, Tags Are Hard, Wen Jun Hui | Jun-centric, jun is just curious, tattoo artist jun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:48:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23447272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobiocapearl/pseuds/tobiocapearl
Summary: Minghao only gets the same tattoo every time he went into Jun's tattoo shop. Jun just wants a backstory to all the tally marks he's tattooing on his skin.Based off a prompt I saw on Google
Relationships: Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	tally it up

Jun always enjoyed being a tattoo artist. He loved meeting different types of people, hearing their stories and being able to be a permanent part of someone’s life gave him unexplainable joy. The thought of his work being a part of someone was the greatest. He’s given people tattoos of their favourite movie character, their favourite flower, their pets, and much more. The diversity between all his clients made his job more interesting as he was able to get a glimpse of their story. 

Out of the many people he’s worked on, there’s definitely few that stood out. For example, one time this guy came in and asked to get a tattoo of the Target logo. Jun thought it to be strange, but he knew better than to judge. However, when he asked for the reason, the man just said that he was a devoted employee at the nearby Target. And it was clients like him who made being a tattoo artist worth it. 

Despite all of his numerous clients, there was just one client who he had so much interest in. He never spoke whenever he came in which is why he never got to hear his story. Usually when he asked for a background story on why they chose this certain tattoo, people told him everything and sometimes more. However, this client was different.

Minghao was his name. He was Jun’s top client. Probably entered into his shop about ten-something times. He was a shy character of sorts, but had a certain aura to him. He was off putting, but there was something comfortable about him. 

That wasn’t the only thing that was interesting about him. Minghao came back for the same tattoo at the same time. A tally mark. He wasn’t sure what they were for, but everytime he came back, the tally marks grew in numbers. Jun was surprised when he asked for the first time. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this. 

Maybe it was nosy of Jun to want to know the story behind those tally marks, but he desperately wanted to know. And he knew that he would hear that story one day or another. He’d make sure of it.

-

The low buzz of the coil tattoo machine filled the air. Jun had one of his favourite clients sitting in his chair, Vernon. He just had a kind, friendly personality that made anyone feel as if they were friends before. With Jun opening so much to him, they became close friends. 

Today, Vernon’s tattoo of choice was the Gryffindor lion with splashes of the house colours since Jun’s main style is watercolour. As a big Harry Potter fan, he was thrilled to get his house tattooed on him. A typical Gryffindor, you could say. 

“Jun, how’s it going over there?” 

Jun nodded, making sure his concentration wasn’t broken for the small details.

“It’s fine Vernon. It’s looking pretty dope. Still can’t believe I’m friends with a Gryffindor.”

“You’re just a sore loser Slytherin. Deal with it. We’re just better,” he teased. 

Rolling his eyes, Jun made his final touches. With everything complete, he felt his pride inflate. Every single one of his pieces were a part of him, and he loved every single one of them. 

He cleaned up the tattoo and put a hot towel on it while he got his camera ready. This was most definitely going to go on his Instagram page. Vernon teased him for being such a perfectionist about his pictures, but Jun gave him no attention. He took multiple pictures before getting the perfect one. He loved recording his process.

Immediately afterwards, he applied the protective ointment and plastered the bandage on top. Even though Vernon listened to the same thing multiple times, Jun was a stickler for proper aftercare, so he explained everything. 

“Make sure you leave the bandage alone for at least two hours minimum, and when you take it off, wash it with antibacterial soap and lukewarm water. Don’t soak with your tattoos and avoid the sun or use sunscreen everytime you go out.”

“You know I’ve been here over six times. I know what to do.”

“Vernon, that’s my baby that I put on your arm. You better make sure to take care of it or else I’ll come to your apartment and break your cups,” Jun demanded.

Vernon laughed hysterically because he knew that Jun could never act upon his threat. Despite Jun learning martial arts, he was too kind to do anything like that.

“So do you wanna go out for drinks tonight? I’ll buy a round since you gave me this new piece.”

“I don’t think I can.” He wiped down his station clean. “ _ That  _ client is coming for a new tattoo tonight.”

“The tally mark dude? You ever got the story behind that or nah?” 

“He doesn’t even speak a word about it. He just walks in, gets it, pays, and leaves. Usually I’m the one who talks the whole time.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Vernon grabbed his jacket off from the arm of the tattoo chair. “Well, good luck with that and we should go hang soon. I miss having a buddy.”

“Shut up and just leave already!” he shouted with zero malice.

Vernon smiled and waved as he left the shop. 

Jun slumped onto his chair, stretching his back and arms a little. Tattooing for a few hours straight put a lot of strain on his body. 

_ Maybe I’m getting old now.  _

Sighing, he got the rest of the cricks out of his neck. It was already 7pm which meant that Minghao would be coming in fifteen minutes. 

Jihoon came slithering out from his section since he was all done for the night. Usually, he finished late due to his intricate illustrative style. A piece from him could range from four to nine hours depending on the size and amount of detail in it, but it was all worth it in the end. Jun himself had three pieces done from him. One on his left forearm, one on his chest, and the last one on his thigh. All of them awarded him with many compliments throughout the years and he loves them all. 

“Gonna pack up yet?” Jihoon tinkered with Jun’s coil tattoo machine. “Or do you have a client.”

“Minghao is coming in,” he checked his watch, “Around thirteen minutes.”

“Same tattoo?”

“You know it.”

“I wonder why he only asks for you.”

“It’s clearly because I am far superiour and much more attractive than the three of you here.” Jun put on a smug face and raised his shoulders.

Jihoon without hesitation picked up a nearby binder filled with flash and pretended to throw it. “I’m sick of you. Get out of my shop.” 

With a face of hurt, he stammered, “But… it’s  _ our  _ shop.”

Both of them laughed out of the sheer stupidity that their interaction had. But who could blame them? It had been a long day with both of them coming in at six in the morning for a couple who wanted to get tattoos together. 

After they regained their sanity, Jihoon grabbed his stuff and headed out. Jun only wished that he could leave. On normal days he would stay at the shop until ten at night, but he would start around one in the afternoon. He wasn’t really the morning type of person especially since he could barely sleep at night. To say that he was more tired than usual would have been an understatement. Rubbing his eyes, he got rid of the tired look on his face. With a few minutes left before Minghao arrived, he quickly went to the back and downed a cold, half drunk coffee. 

When he made his way back up to the front of the shop, he saw Minghao standing by the front windows. It was quite easy to recognize him due to his proper posture and scrawny limbs. Might he add, there was no one in the shop but him. Also, the all black outfit gave him away. Jun probably never seen him wear any other colour before except that one time where he came in with white socks and grumbled, “I forgot to do laundry.” 

Minghao lifted his head up from his phone when he heard Jun’s footsteps. With a nod, he made his way into the chair. Jun had everything set up from before which wasn’t a lot anyways. Black ink and the stencil. Since the tallies are the same, he reused the first one for the stencils later one. He wiped down his forearm and put on the stencil right next to the last one. With that all done, he got down to work. 

Despite the simplicity of the tattoo, it took a while because he hated lines that weren’t straight. That was probably his pet peeve. The tattoo artist that he did his first “apprenticeship” under never had his lines straight and was more of a scratcher than anything. That’s where he learned what a tattoo shouldn’t look like. 

The buzz of the tattoo machine served as background music for the silence. It was pretty quiet since Wonwoo and Soonyoung left a bit before Jihoon. Just him and Minghao left in the shop. The awkward silence was suffocating. Jun didn’t really enjoy it. He was more of a “fill the silence” type of person.

“So... seventeenth tally mark huh?” 

Minghao grunted in response.

Great, a dead end in their conversation. Jun just awkwardly laughed and continued to speak. “Anyways, how was your day?”

“Fine. Yours?”

“Not bad. Came in early so I’m quite tired. Not saying I’m blaming you though. I just got a lot of clients cause I’m that good.” 

He chuckled while looking up to the ceiling. 

“Anyways, my friend came in and got a Gryffindor tattoo. Kinda disgusting, who would want to show off as a Gryffindor? I mean I am a Slytherin so I have a bias, but it’s a small one,” he continued to ramble. “What’s your house? Let me guess. Ravenclaw?”

Shrugging, he replied, “I never took the test, but anything but Gryffindor I guess.”

“Wise choice. Maybe you are a Slytherin. But you should take your house test. It’s kinda long, but I think it’s kinda cool.”

Jun continued to fill the silence with meaningless conversations while Minghao contributed a sentence or two every so often. It was like this everytime that it kind of seemed routine. 

After a proper thirty minutes of tattooing, the seventeenth tally mark appeared on his skin. Scratches of black marked his skin and Jun had no other thoughts other than wanting to know what those tally marks were marking. Was it the amount of people he killed? Was it counting the amount of cats he has? Or was it just meaningless? He was left in the dark once more as Minghao quickly paid and left him all alone in the empty tattoo shop.

  
  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> first fanfic *shy face with the fingers pointed together*  
> please let me know how it is!!


End file.
